An awful lot of ofal

As the date for the closure of the landfill outside Saratoga gets ever closer, the Upper Platte River Solid Waste Disposal District (UPRSWDD) may finally have a direction in how to proceed with their dead animal pit. The question of what to do once the dead animal pit at the Saratoga site is closed has plagued the UPRSWDD board for nearly three years.

With concerns over the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) and the temporary closure of Saratoga Town Hall to ancillary boards and commissions, the UPRSWDD board met via teleconference on April 1. Joining the call were Craig McComie and Jody Weikart from the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ).

Currently, the UPRSWDD has an exception from the DEQ under their permit for the construction and demolition (CD) pit to allow bone and hide. Any ofal from the processing of domestic animals such as livestock must go into the dead pit with whole carcasses. The guidance from DEQ for landfills across the state have provided the following options; incinerate the animal carcasses, compost the animal carcasses or transport the animal caracsses to an approved lined facility.

“What were you guys thinking? Was composting kind of off the table now?” asked McComie.

UPRSWDD Chairman Randy Raymer informed McComie that the board had been discussing as to what was and wasn’t acceptable for DEQ. Raymer added that the board was hard pressed on finding an answer as to how to approach the closure of the dead animal pit.

“When we talk about transport, Laramie—where we take our MSW (Municipal Solid Waste)—has refused to take anything other than incidental quantities mixed in with our incidental waste,” said Raymer. “We are welcome to bring an entire roll-off down there and dump in their dead animal pit but, quite honestly, I don’t see that happening where we have a roll-off full of dead animals sitting around waiting to fill up so that we can take it someplace and put it in the dead animal pit.”

Raymer then turned the conversation over to UPRSWDD member Leroy Stephenson. Stephenson informed McComie that it was the opinion of the board that incineration was too cost prohibitive for the district and were moving forward with composting. He then brought up information he had been provided at a composting symposium held by the Wyoming Game and Fish Department (WGFD) and Wyoming Department of Transportation (WYDOT) in late 2019.

“DEQ’s take on composting was (that) composting should take place on a hard surface, be it a poured asphalt surface or poured concrete surface. Something to that effect,” said Stephenson.

According to Stephenson, Jean Bonhotal of Cornell University, the keynote speaker at the symposium, advised that a porous surface would be better for composting as a hard surface would concentrate the runoff from the composting.

“I’m wondering if the DEQ has developed any further guidelines or any new guidelines since that meeting on how they want us to compost,” Stephenson said.

McComie replied that he agreed with Stephenson that incineration was too cost prohibitive for the district but that he didn’t believe that DEQ had any requirement for composting to be done on a hard surface. According to McComie, with the proper bedding of two feet of sawdust working as the adsorbent, there shouldn’t be the risk of any ground contamination.

“I would say that, at that same meeting, Luke Esch told the people that were assembled there that we would be able to dispose of the composted material in our CD pit and we would not have to transport it to a lined facility,” said Stephenson.

This was confirmed by Weikart.

“That is true,” said Weikart. “As long as you composted the whole dead animal down to bone and hide, you can dispose of the woodchips and the bone and hide itself in the C&D landfill.”

McComie raised what he thought was another concern of the district, which was that of meat processors in the Valley and their use of the landfill. While whole carcasses are disposed of by WGFD and WYDOT at the Saratoga site, meat processors dispose of the ofal from cattle.

According to McComie, a pilot compost project had been attempted in Sundance but had been abandoned. It was reported by the Sundance Times on July 25, 2019 that the city council had scrapped the program in favor of storing and transferring ofal.

“We didn’t do it on asphalt or concrete, we just did it over dirt,” said McComie. “Really what’s key is the mixture, or ratio, of sawdust to product and make sure you’ve got a good two foot bedding down.”

Wiekart added that, due to the Saratoga site being a low hazard/low volume location, any waste has to be managed in containers and that would include the composting. Additional discussion led to the board agreeing upon the very thing that Raymer, at the beginning of the meeting, felt wasn’t an option; composting animal carcasses in a roll-off dumpster and transporting them to Laramie.

“The roll-off thing is not a bad idea. If you’ve got access to that sawdust and put it in there and layer it, you’ll have a test run or two to see how quickly it fills up at this time of year versus the hunting (season),” McComie said.

As discussion continued, it was revealed that Merrill Meats Company process approximately five head of cattle a week with that ofal being transported to the Saratoga site in 55-gallon drums and that the WGFD disposes of three to four deer carcasses a week.

The closure of the dead animal pit and the stop-gap measure of using a roll-off dumpster to compost animal caracasses also comes as the UPRSWDD prepares to rebid the three year contracts for the Saratoga and Encampment transfer sites currently held by Ron Munson. Those updated contracts will include some provision about composting and transportation of animal caracasses.

“When that closure starts, our dead animal pit is gone and so, we’re within 60 to 90 days of not having any place to put our dead animals,” Raymer said. “So, we kind of got to get after this.”

In the interim, the district will have to figure out what adjustments will need to be made to the current rates in regards to animal carcass disposal. Under the current rate structure, an annual fee allows for 4 pickup or small trailer loads for $35 a month with an additional $35 per load above four loads or a non-annual fee of $72 per load.

The next meeting of the Upper Platte River Solid Waste Disposal District will be at 7 p.m. on May 6 at Riverside Town Hall.